A report from the Wichita Eagle in Kansas. “A new study identifies Wichita as one of the most rapidly cooling housing markets in the country. The median listing price for a Wichita home actually fell by 7.28% from summer 2020 to summer 2021. Wichita ranks fifth among U.S. housing markets that have cooled from the pandemic boom behind Milwaukee, Wisconsin (-17.38%), Winston-Salem, North Carolina (-12.36%), Greensboro, North Carolina (-11.76%) and Columbus, Ohio (-7.44%).”
From KHSB on Missouri. “There is still much more demand than supply in the real estate market around Kansas City, Missouri, but Tony Conant, president of the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, believes the market is showing signs of cooling. Conant prefaces it by explaining the market is still very hot, but homes are now lasting days on the market, when earlier in the year it was hours.”
“He’s also seen fewer bidders on new listings. Possibly a sign of buyer fatigue – when buyers are tired of competing for new listings. ‘After you lose eight or 10 [bids, you start to think], ‘Maybe now is not the right time.’ I would tell you, buyers, that are out there who’ve been frustrated before, maybe take another look,’ Conant pointed out.”
From Colorado Public Radio. “Home sales in the Denver metro are slowing, giving some buyers a chance to jump into what has been a highly competitive market for more than a year. ‘Sellers have basked in the control seat for so long that it can be hard to set reasonable expectations,’ realtor Amanda Snitker wrote in the report, advising homeowners to prepare for a slower sales process.”
The Oregonian. “Owners hesitated to sell during the coronavirus pandemic. But that is changing. Sellers who waited to list their property are jumping into the market while it’s hot, bumping up inventory. Traditional home buyers who need time to go through the mortgage process can tempt sellers with a higher price, which an appraisal might not support, or get creative by promising sellers a signing bonus or charitable donation in their name.”
“But Kurt Misar, a broker with NW Property Advisors, cautions buyers against acquiring a property at an inflated price that doesn’t provide protection of owner equity if the market were to fall. ‘It can get eaten up quickly, as it was in 2006-2007, putting the home value below the bank debt,’ he said. And starting the cycle all over again.”
From The Signal in California. “‘The local home market typically starts to slow around this time of year, though these remain unusual times,’ said Nicole Stinson, chair of the Santa Clarita Valley Division Council of the SRAR. ‘We’re still seeing strong sales, many with multiple offers, yet the pace appears to be slowing slightly, even as more homes hit the market. The increase in inventory is slight and comes primarily in single-family homes, yet even a few more homes listed for sale may ease upward pressure on resales prices.’”
“While multiple offers and high prices are still the norm, Stinson noted that she’s seeing the market cool off a bit, adding, ‘We are for sure shifting from a market that just a month or two ago was crazy.’”
From News.com.au on California. “The famed Beverly House, once proclaimed as ‘the most famous mansion in the world’ has sold, well kinda, after $200 million was slashed from its asking price. Yes. Two. Hundred. Million. Dollars.”
From CBC News in Canada. “New numbers from Equifax this week confirmed what housing market watchers have known for a while now: Canadians are addicted to mortgage debt. Canadians took out 410,000 home loans in the second quarter. That’s the biggest quarterly jump on record, up 60 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. The average price of a Canadian resale home topped $716,000 in March. While average prices have come down a little since then, they’re still well ahead of where they were before the pandemic.”
“Prices that go up forever may make homeowners sleep soundly in their heavily leveraged bedrooms, but many of those paper gains are built on a foundation of debt. There aren’t just more mortgages than ever out there — they’re also bigger than ever, too. The average new home loan was for $355,000 during the quarter, Equifax says. That’s also the highest level on record, and an increase of 20 per cent compared to where we were a year ago.”
“All in all, Canadians now owe more than $2.15 trillion in consumer debt, more than the value of Canada’s entire economy.”
“Adam Eljerbi owns a number of homes in London, Ont., half of which he bought in the past year alone. In an interview, he said he thinks buyers in some markets may be getting in over their heads because of a need to ‘keep up with the Joneses,’ as he put it. ‘There’s a lot of speculative behaviour,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of, hey, homes only go up in value.’”
From Stoke on Trent Live in the UK. “House prices have soared as the supply has struggled to keep up wit the growing demand. But despite the lack of competition, some homes can be difficult to sell. In North Staffordshire, there are some houses that have been listed online for as long as two years. Longton three-bed – £61,000. This property was first listed on the property website in August 2019 for £77,500.”
“While many properties on this list have not budged on their price point, this one has been reduced not once, not twice, but three times. In December 2020, the price was reduced by £5,500, then by a further £2,000 in May 2021, and finally last month it was reduced by £9,000 to £61,000. That’s a price drop of £16,500 since it was first listed over two years ago. It was last sold for £62,800 in October 2017, so the sellers are facing a loss with the hefty price reduction.”
From The Age in Australia. “At almost $1.3 million, Lee Lits was expecting a lot more from the luxury apartment into which she poured her life savings. But in April, just months after moving into her new Caulfield home, the single mother of three discovered that water was regularly streaming down the insides of her windows and pooling in the carpet when it rained. It got worse: in July, she discovered that black mould was growing on the ceilings, curtains and carpets in every room.”
“‘It’s terrible living like this,’ she said. ‘I’m worried about our health.’”
A large, industrial fan has been whirring in her home all day and night in an effort to dry it out, but the problems persist. After repeatedly contacting her developer and builder, they sent out two building inspectors who concluded the mould was caused by condensation from Ms Lits not opening her windows enough. But independent mould and leak experts employed by Ms Lits believe it’s due to poor waterproofing.”
“Her situation is not unique, with more than 50 per cent of Victorian apartment owners reporting that they live in homes with building defects, according to a new survey of 3593 people by Australian Apartment Advocacy. Water penetration from outside, poor waterproofing, defective plumbing and structural cracking were among the most-common defects. The survey found that resolving these issues was complicated, time-consuming and exhausting, with just 16 per cent of recipients reporting that someone had accepted responsibility for all their defects.”